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Kind woman makes a special chair for the dog so he can eat

The Funny Farm Rescue in New Jersey is home to many an abandoned animals. Together they look after one another through the twists of fate. Here’s however one dog whose condition is way different from other animals on the farm.

Meet Chuck, the cute German shepherd who also presides over as the acting “Director of Security” at the rescue.

Chuck is almost like any other dog – full of life and love but when it comes to having food, it all changes for worse, unfortunately.

Chuck suffers from an ailment known as Megaesophagus in which the animal’s esophagus grows too large, to the point where it loses the ability to contract its muscles, which is necessary in order to pass food and liquids into the stomach.

If Chuck were to eat in any other position, other than upright in a high chair, he would vomit.

Laurie Zaleski, the founder of Funny Farm knew that Chuck would face a high risk of being euthanized because of his condition. Furthermore it would be difficult to find a dog like him with special needs a home. So she adopted him herself in 2013.

Chuck’s megaesophagus could not be corrected through surgery as it was one of the worst cases veterinarians had ever encountered.

The doctors tried to convince Laurie into putting down Chuck, informing her that he would not likely live past the age of 1 — but she believed in Chuck.

“I researched how he was going to be able to eat and I got a child’s car seat from a friend. He quickly learned to jump in the car seat and eat upright at 3 months old. Sitting in an upright position while eating allows gravity to gradually pull food into Chuck’s stomach.”

~Laurie Zaleski

Special chair for the dog

Today, Chuck is a happy 3 years old who is completely normal-functioning dog when he is not eating in his chair. He swims in the pool, plays fetch all day and chases the horses … He is the happiest dog!

There are dogs like Chuck walking among us, the ones who have been relegated as down and out by the vet(s), their families or the society at large but the naysayers don’t know the power of will. They don’t know of the difference a single kind human can make. Here’s hoping that every Chuck finds a Laurie for he deserves it!